Ho Chi Minh Thought

Ho Chi Minh Thought was influenced by Vietnamese culture, the French revolution, and Marxism–Leninism. Similar to Maoism, at the core of Ho Chi Minh Thought is that the peasantry is the revolutionary vanguard in pre-industrial societies, rather than the proletariat.[9]

Ho Chi Minh Thought is rooted in:[10]

• Marxism-Leninism
• Traditional Vietnamese ideology and culture
• Eastern cultural thought: Confucianism, Buddhism[11]
• Western ideologies, specifically French and American political philosophy
• Ho Chi Minh 's personal morality

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Ho Chi Minh Thought, as codified by the Communist Party of Vietnam, describes the following as the core of ideological system of Ho Chi Minh Thought: [15][16]

• National liberation, class liberation, human liberation;
• National independence
• National Unity
• People's ownership, building the true State of the people, by the people, for the people;
• National defense of all people, building of the people's armed forces;
• Economic and cultural development, constantly improving the material and spiritual life of the people;
• Revolutionary ethics needs, thrifty, integrity, righteousness and impartiality;
• Take care of fostering revolutionary generations for the next life;
• Building a clean, strong Party, cadres and party members who are both leaders and loyal servants of the people

Central to Ho Chi Minh Thought is the importance of the Communist Party being the center of a national liberation movement.[8] Ho Chi Minh Thought argues that revolutionary violence and humanitarian peace are dialectical opposed to each other, however the synthesis of their conflict would inevitably be the preservation of peace, independence and national liberation.[10]

Related to socialism and economics, Ho Chi Minh Thought details the following about socialist construction and characteristics of a socialist society and economy:[10]

• Socialism is a society with highly developed production force, associated with the progressive development of science - technology and culture, a rich people, and the strong country.[17]
• Implementation of workers ownership of the means of production and implementing the principle of labor distribution.
• A dictatorship of the proletariat based on the unity of industrial, agricultural, and intellectual workers under the leadership of the Communist Party.
• A socialist society has a system of social relations that is healthy, fair and equal, with no opposition between intellectual and manual labor, and between urban and rural areas.

We must develop the state-owned economic sector to create the material basis for socialism and promote socialist reform.[18]

— Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh Thought emphasizes a gradual transition to socialism.[19][17] Similar to Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, Ho Chi Minh Thought places emphasis on the role of the development of the productive forces towards the development of socialism. According to Ho Chi Minh, when entering the period of transition to socialism, the Vietnamese economy was described as a largely outdated agricultural economy that had not yet undergone capitalist development. In particular, Ho Chi Minh paid special attention to the fundamental contradiction of the transition period, which is the conflict between the country's high development needs and the socio-economic situation of the working class.[17] Ho Chi Minh Thought also stresses learning from the experiences of other socialist countries in building socialism and make use of all the help of international aid and cooperation.[20]

While Hồ Chí Minh supported the position that Vietnam had entered the stage of transition to socialism in 1954, he held the belief that Vietnam was still "a democratic regime in which people are the masters" and not socialist.[21] To reach the socialist stage of development, the development of the state sector was of utmost importance—the lack of which according to Hồ Chí Minh would lead to failure.[21] The platform of the 11th National Congress held in January 2011 stated: "This is a profound and thorough revolutionary process and a complicated struggle between the old and the new for qualitative changes in all aspects of social life. It is essential to undergo a long period of transition with several steps of development and several mixed social and economic structures".[22]

A propaganda poster promoting the study of Ho Chi Minh morality.

According to the party's General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng, during the transition to socialism, socialist factors of development compete with non-socialist factors, which include capitalist factors. Nguyễn said: "Along with positive aspects, there will always be negative aspects and challenges that need to be considered wisely and dealt with timely and effectively. It is a difficult struggle that requires spirit, fresh vision, and creativity. The path to socialism is a process of constantly consolidating and strengthening socialist factors to make them more dominant and irreversible. Success will depend on correct policies, political spirit, leadership capacity, and the fighting strength of the Party".[23]

A unique aspect of Ho Chi Minh thought is the emphasis on personal morality and ethics.[24] The personal values of Ho Chi Minh are regularly upheld by the Party, and party members are taught to exemplify Ho Chi Minh's personal values: practicing the standard of industriousness, thrift, integrity, uprightness, public-spiritedness and selflessness in serving the country and the people.[25][26] Central to Ho Chi Minh morality is living a modest and immaterial lifestyle, and devoting oneself to the collective good and the advancement of socialism and self-determination.[27][26] Ho Chi Minh wrote about morality throughout his entire life, and often criticized individualism, such as in his short essay Raise up Revolutionary Ethics, Eliminate Individuals.[27] The personal values of Ho Chi Minh are a mandatory party of school curriculum throughout Vietnam.[28]

At the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam held in Hanoi in 1991, it was determined that Marxism - Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought were the basis of the ideology of the Party.[8] Since this congress, Ho Chi Minh Thought has been taught in all universities as a compulsory subject for all students of all disciplines.[29] The formal training - and discussion between experts - for this course began in 1997 at Hanoi University.[30]

Domestic researchers and Ho Chi Minh's comrades have written many works on Ho Chi Minh Thought such as Understanding some issues in Ho Chi Minh's thought (1982) by Le Mau Han. ; Ho Chi Minh Thought Research (1993) by the Ho Chi Minh Institute's authors; The world has changed but Ho Chi Minh thought (1991), Ho Chi Minh thought (1993), Ho Chi Minh thought process of formation and development (1993), Ho Chi Minh thought and the way Vietnamese revolution (1997) of Vo Nguyen Giap ; Basic perceptions about Ho Chi Minh thought (1998) of Pham Van Dong ; The formation of Ho Chi Minh ideology (1997) by Tran Van Giau ; From traditional thinking to Ho Chi Minh thought (1998) by Hoang Tung.[31]

• Communism in Vietnam
• Juche
• Maoism
• Kaysone Phomvihane Thought
• Primary stage of socialism
• Vietnamese nationalism